"The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Lords of Shadow..."

Let me get this straightened out before hand; I am quite the aficionado of the Castlevania series. While I am disappointed in the lack of Castlevania related themes, I am ecstatic at the thought of a sequel. Also, those who have been writing the most outrageous reviews about this game, thank you. You made me smile about how pathetic you are to have taken the time to have written a half-assed review with no supporting arguments to why the game is so bad that can't be found in the first couple of chapters. Next time, finish the game before you make a complete fool of yourself. Now on to the review:

Overview:

Castlevania: LoS is just as it was described; a reboot from the original series. While, as stated above, I was disappointed that it was missing some of the schematics of an original Castlevania game, I was surprised in it's expansive range of fighting/platforming. While most of the actions performed in the game are based off of other popular games (God of War, Uncharted, Shadows of the Colossus), I feel that they integrated into the game extremely well. I look at the glass half full. While others are enraged with the lack of a unique combat style for this game, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Take the best parts of one's favorite games and make them into one work of art is exactly what I, and probably Konami/Mercury Steam, had in mind.

Storyline: (8)

While dry and dull during the side-stories, the main storyline was quite brilliant. A man, Gabriel, motivated by the death of his wife must kill the Lords of Shadow in order to gain their power in an attempt to bring his wife back to life. Along the way, Gabriel must meet with trials, betrayal, and ultimately finds that he has become his own worst nightmare. While this is the basic overview for any epic movie (just replace the nouns), you will find the storyline to be unique and interesting. Now when it comes to the side-stories, you may become confused. There are points where Gabriel is given the help of a certain magical being, and after one cutscene, that creature dissapears without a who how or why, just to return later on and do the exact same thing. With all things accounted for, I give the storyline an 8

Gameplay: (9)

While I want to give this a ten, I know that there is no such thing as perfect, that includes the gameplay. While this part of the game is stunningly flawless, there are a few things to account for; At least once while going through this game, someone will glitch through the ground. I don't know how this happened to me, but it was the most rare occurrence of a bad thing to happen during my gaming time. Probably the second-worst part to the gameplay is the camera... it goes everywhere BUT where you want it to. I personally believe that if there had been an unfixed camera, this game could've been a whole lot easier when it comes to finding gems (the scarecrow level had the hardest one for me, being that you couldn't see one of the soldiers).

Now onto the good/amazing parts. The basic combat can be described easily by me with one word; beautiful. While some parts of battle are sketchy/annoying, when you learn how to adapt to every attack in the game and do the second playthrough of the game, your precision with the cross amazes you. Now I do wish they had more combos than they did, I thought that the ones they did incorporate into the game were breathtaking (when done properly). Mounted fighting is one of my favorite parts of the game, due to the mass amount of damage you can do with the beasts and not get hurt. I think of this as a break in the intensive fighting. Platforming is one of my favorite parts of this game. You get to scale unbelievable heights and you witness the most amazing visuals. Every scene is new and unique, a new experience every time you climb a wall. Most important are the Titan fights. I was distraught to find that their were two in the beginning and, after a long wait and 13 bosses later, a final Titan. This IS my favorite part of the game. While they did not feel as alive as the Titans in Shadows of the Colossus, they were pretty damned believable. Lastly, the puzzles. These quite honestly are so easy and yet so difficult at the same time. While the answers are quite simple, I have had to check every crevice for the answer to the puzzles, just to realize in the end that the answer was in my face the entire time, whether it be the smallest need for adjustment or simply I started the puzzle incorrectly. For all of these factors, I give Gameplay a 9

Sounds: (6)

The game definitely had it's ups and downs here. When it came to the soundtrack, I would get excited when a sound would play in the game. When it would play. Which it almost never did. There seems to be a bit more grunting by Gabriel then there is background music, and when the music did play, it didn't always feel appropriate for the moment. When it comes down to combat sounds, they were great! It has that natural sound that comes with hacking an opponent to death, missing and hitting nothing but air, or when you hit a wall and you here a bit of a clang. Lastly, voice-acting. The biggest turn down was that most of the side characters made you want to punch the nearest wall with their constant bantering, which we all know we heard the first time. Please stop with the repetition! On the other hands, there were excellent performances by the voice actors of Gabriel and Zobek, Robert Carlyle and Patrick Stewart, respectively. With all of these into account, I give Sounds a 6

Backtracking: (8)

This game is just as good to play a second time, and you know everything about each level, making it less of a stressor and more of an entertainer. The game gives you trials and a number of collectibles and upgrades to go back for. The trials are like a challenge mode for this game, each one being harder than the last. The added challenge makes the game a bit more enjoyable or that much more annoying. The collectibles are enjoyable due to the fact that they aren't just another worthless, never going to use this, collectibles. They add onto the health and magic bars as a reward for finding them. For this I give Backtracking an 8.

Review: 8/10

I recommend this game for the determined and fans of hack n' slash adventure games. If you are unsure about whether or not you should buy this game, I suggest renting and playing the game AT LEAST through chapter 5. The demo was good, but it does the final production no justice. I'm 25 words from having 1200 for the detailed review so I will now drone on about nothing...Hello... goodbye... What's up? High five! It's called sarcasm... What's that? D**MIT GOKU!